Ambulance wait times, Canadian fatigue, EMS response times and we’re going to take a look at West Nile Virus signs, symptoms and treatments in a follow-up to our interview segment from last week on West Nile Virus. If that’s what you’re looking for you found it, right here on the MedicCast.

MedicCast Episode 299

Good day and welcome to this week’s episode of the MedicCast, with your host Jamie Davis, the Podmedic. There’s a lot of great stuff coming up for you in this episode. Our news items the start off with some items out of Canada as well news out of South Carolina. Then we’re going to follow-up, about halfway through the episode, with a look at West Nile Virus signs and symptoms and treatment options. This is a follow-up to our segment last week where we interviewed the hosts of This Week in Virology about West Nile Virus.

In the meantime I want to remind you that all of the information in this episode is available for you over at the MedicCast Blog. That’s available at MedicCast.com/blog. You will find the shownotes link right there the top of the page. Click that link and you can scroll on down and find any of the episode you are looking for. It starts off with the most recent episodes and you go back in time all the way back to episode one.

You can get back in touch with me if you have a question or comment, or perhaps I need to make a correction, whatever the case may be you can reach me by e-mail. Send those e-mails into podmedic@mac.com. I love to hear from each and every one of you and it’s a great opportunity for me to respond back. I will get back in touch with you. There is some more contact information for you later on at the end of the show but in the meantime, in just a sec, let’s get on into this week’s news.

EMS World Expo Coming Soon

Before I get to the news, please remember the EMS World Expo coming up in New Orleans in October, 2012. I want to invite all of you to be there and we have a special promo code that will get you free admission to the exhibit hall. Visit EMSWorldExpo.com, register for an exhibit hall pass and use the promo code FP50 when you check out.

You can come and see all the great stuff they’ve got to show there and also hang out and catch some of your favorite podcast episodes recorded live right there. I hope you can make the event though and that when you get there, you’ll head over and make sure you come up and say “hi.”

We do want to thank Physio-Control for being the sponsor of our podcast studio all three days there. If you haven’t already done so, check out their page over on Facebook. You can do that and the say thanks to them for sponsoring our shows. Also, use the Promo Code FP50 at EMSWorldExpo.com when you check out to get free exhibit hall access passes for the conference.

Increased Ambulance Wait Times

In the Lake country of British Columbia, they are dealing with longer and longer wait times as ambulance call volume increases and the number ambulance services that are available decrease. One of the problems that they have has to do with the hybrid volunteer/paid system up there. So when someone’s not available to get out during the day, the response is delayed during the day because they are at work. When they have to call, in a local town, the larger city services drive out into the countryside and respond and so some people were waiting for urgent calls for 50 minutes for an ambulance.

Fatigue Rolls an Ambulance

Another interesting article to come out of Canada this week is an article about ambulance rolling into a ditch after the paramedics inside fell sleep due to extreme fatigue. This occurred in Manitoba. The two paramedics fell asleep and rolled their vehicle into a highway ditch at 7 AM while returning from a call. They had been working all day the previous day and then have had numerous calls throughout the night so they’d gotten no opportunity to sleep. Long travel times in rural Canada and other rural areas means that this could happen in many places.

EMS Units and Response Fines

An interesting article I picked up out of Williamston, South Carolina, says EMS squads are now in a position to face fines if they cross jurisdictional lines without being called by dispatch. Apparently there’s been a problem in this community where there are several different EMS services that provide care. People in neighboring towns who have a relationship with somebody in one of the other jurisdictions will call them to have that ambulance come pick them up and take them to the hospital.

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West Nile Virus Signs, Symptoms and Treatments

Time for this week’s tip of the week. I’m going to go ahead and continue on with a following up on last week’s show. We talked about West Nile Virus with Vince Racaniello and Dickson Descommier from the This Week in Virology podcast. This week I thought I would dig in and do a review of West Nile Virus, its main symptoms, signs and possible treatments and outcomes for patients. That way you can better understand the medical aspects of West Nile Virus so let’s go ahead and jump into this segment looking at the treatment of West Nile Virus.

EMS World Expo Promo Code

I do want to remind you to get together with your colleagues and figure out how you can get the EMS World Expo in October. We’re going to be there again broadcasting live in the podcast studio recorded right there on the show floor. You can come by, sit in the social media lounge right next-door. We have comfortable chairs and free Wi-Fi. Listen to the shows while they’re going on and get a chance to meet me and the other EMS podcasters like Chris Montera Greg Friese and they’ll all be there. You also want to get into the exhibit hall and check out all of the amazing devices, tools, and new inventions for EMS.